manifest

n.

"ship's cargo," 1706; see manifest (adj.). Earlier, "a public declaration" (c.1600; cf. manifesto), from French manifeste, verbal noun from manifester. Earlier still in English as "a manifestation" (1560s).

Other nations have tried to check ... the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the Continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions. [John O'Sullivan (1813-1895), "U.S. Magazine & Democratic Review," July 1845]

The phrase apparently is O'Sullivan's coinage; the notion is as old as the republic.